Freda Andrews- on the impact her teachers had on her life (clip)
Interviewed by Beryl Bortey and Caroline Englert on October 10, 2018
Freda Andrews: The schools were, as I said, full of caring teachers and the reason I chose to be a teacher today or an educator was because of some of those teachers then that taught me and instilled in me that you want to be somebody. So, when you want to be somebody, you have to grow up and watch the role models who can inspire you.
I would go home and pretend that I was a teacher. In fact, that was my passion. I would line my baby dolls up and they would sit out there, and they had to listen to me with my ruler in my hand. I would point and I would emulate everything my teacher would say and do in the classroom, all day till time to go to bed. My favorite chore in wanting to be a teacher, now most folks say they want to be able to help others, mine was to grade papers. Who wants to do that? [laughter] I thought that was the nicest thing. I would pretend I was a teacher and I’d grade those papers and put a smiley face on them, or a check mark or 100% on them. That was my dream to grow up.
I loved how many of them dressed and carried themselves. I thought teachers could do no wrong. I was so disappointed when I realized they were people just like me. They were human. They were on a pedestal for me. I went through high school having done well as far as academics were concerned.
